Marvel United
Marvel United is a turn-based role-playing game published by Fantendo and Activision for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released on November 2, 2014. It is the first installment of the ''Marvel United'' series. The game centers around a vast number of heroes in the fictional Marvel Universe. In the game, players take control of a new S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who leads a group of superheroes. Players start out with only a few heroes, but as they progress through the story, they gain more an more characters. Players can train their heroes by raising their stats and gaining them new moves, all by leveling up. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent never does any battling and only acts as their leader. Blurb Gameplay Marvel United is a turn-based RPG. It involves the recruitment and training of many superheroes found in Marvel comics. As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, the player leads them and uses them to battle enemies, bosses, and other players. Up to eight characters can be a part of the player's team, or party. When the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent touches an enemy, the screen changes to a battlefield (which has the same them as the Area) with the playable character on the left and the enemies on the right. The player can only have up to three battlers out fighting. They can be switched in with other heroes in the party but will use up their turn in doing so. In battles, playable characters have four options: using a Combo, unleashing one of their Special Moves, using an item, or fleeing. Combos are quickly executed attack strings that will damage any foe. Special Moves have base power and range in effects. Each Special Move's use is limited by Energy. If a Special Move's energy runs out, an item must be used to restore it. Combos do not have Energy and can be used an unlimited number of times. There are many types of items heroes can use. Most items only affect player characters. The player can also have his or her team flee the battle if things are not going well. Every character has his or her own type. The types are , , , and . Each type has its own strength and weakness. -type heroes are weak against attacks from -type heroes, -types are weak against attacks from -types, -types are weak against attacks from -types, and -types are weak against attacks from -types. Characters can be affected by status conditions. The six status conditions are: bleeding, blazed, paralyzed, frozen, poisoned, and confused. Characters that are bleeding steadily lose HP with no secondary effects. Blazed characters catch on fire and lose HP each turn and cannot move until they take enough damage. Characters that are paralyzed and frozen are like characters that are blazed, except they do not lose HP. Poisoned characters lose HP and get their Power stat cut in half. Confused characters have a chance of hurting themselves instead of attacking. Some characters are naturally immune to some status conditions (for example, Human Torch is immune to being blazed, and Iron Man is immune to bleeding). The use of items will cure most status conditions. Heroes, enemies, and bosses have four stats: health (measured in Hit Points, or HP), Power, Defense, and Speed. Each stat is self-explanatory. HP is a measure of how long characters can be in battle before they're killed by attacks. Power determines the strength of a character's Combos and Special Moves. Defense reduces the damage a character takes from attacks. Speed determines the order at which characters use their turns. After defeating enemies and bosses, heroes earn experience points. After enough Exp. Points have been gathered, the hero levels up, increasing his/her stats, and occasionally allowing him/her to learn a new Special Move. The player is also allowed to further increase a stat by a random value (ranging from 1 to 5), similar to the ''Mario & Luigi'' series. The overworld consists of sprawling maps that the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent must traverse. The player's heroes are not out in the overworld, but often the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent will have to "send out" a hero and use his/her powers to move an obstacle, destroying something blocking the path, etc. The biggest goal of the game is to find and recruit all playable characters. Characters that are not recruited as a result of story progression must be purchased using Hero Coins. This type of currency is scattered throughout the overworld. Other ways to achieve Hero Coins include completing missions, defeating bosses, receiving them from the player's heroes, and converting it from money, the game's base currency. Money is based off of the U.S. dollar system. Another feature of the game is Friendship. This is the relationship the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent has with the numerous heroes. Players can grow Friendship between the two simply by having them on the Agent's team, but there are other ways, such as having long conversations with them at Stark Tower, using them and winning with them in boss battles, and leveling them up. There are six stages of Friendship that a hero can share with the Agent: Only a Soldier, Acquaintance, Star Player, Friend, Good Friend, and Close Friend. The level of Friendship affects the hero's HP and Speed stat (heroes that have low Friendship with the Agent have average or normal HP and Speed, while those with high Friendship have higher than average HP and Speed). Each hero has his/her own unique Personality, so the player must take different approaches to building Friendships between the Agent and the heroes. Stark Tower acts a hub that the player goes to in between missions. There, the player can upgrade his/her heroes' Special Moves. Bios of each character can be read. Heroes' HP is automatically restored when the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent enters the tower. Trivia games can be played and distribute Exp. Points to all the player's heroes when questions are answered correctly. The player can also have the Agent talk to the many heroes (s)he has recruited. Players can pit their heroes against each other in battles over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Status conditions and type matchups play a much bigger role here. Players can recruit heroes by winning enough player-vs.-player battles. Characters Heroes Starter Characters Unlockable Characters Most playable characters in the game have to be unlocked, either by recruiting them, completing certain tasks, or purchasing them. Enemies Mini-Bosses Mini-bosses are characters that are much stronger than regular enemies but still weaker than bosses. Like enemies, mini-bosses can encountered more than one time. Bosses Bosses are the strongest foes in the game. They have much more power than both enemies and mini-bosses. Bosses have high HP and act similarly to the playable characters, as they have Special Abilities, their own moves, and types. They give off high amounts of Exp. Points when defeated. Hero Team-Ups Areas Story DLC Packs Attack on Malibu Point (December 2014) Based on the film Iron Man 3. Gives the player an expansion of the story. Symbiote Control (February 2015) Gives the player an expansion of the story, a new Area to explore, and the recruitability of Anti-Venom. Age of Ultron (May 2015) Based on the film The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Gives the player an expansion of the story. Soundtrack For the game's soundtrack, click here. Trivia *The beginning of the game plays off the Pokémon games, with Nick Fury appearing and explaining the world of superheroes to the player, then asking for his/her name. *Deadpool of course continues his role as the breaker of the fourth wall. *Heroes that are Friends or higher with the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent will call him/her by the player's first name, instead of "Agent." *Phoenix's appearances changes when she uses her Dark Phoenix move. Category:Games Category:Fan Games Category:Role-Playing Games Category:RPGs Category:Superhero Games Category:Marvel Games Category:2014 Category:Marvel United Category:VictoryStar